C-SCALE

Salt marshes are effective natural carbon sinks, but their performance in cold, high-latitude environments is poorly understood, with global estimates heavily skewed towards data from temperate regions. C-SCALE will carry out a coordinated assessment of carbon and greenhouse gas dynamics across a latitudinal gradient  from the Wadden Sea to Svalbard in the high Arctic, assessing how warming and sea-level rise influence the northernmost salt marsh carbon budgets. Complementary Canadian sites will serve as independent validation locations to test whether models based on European field data are transferable. Beyond measuring stored carbon, the project will quantify sequestration rates, track methane and nitrous oxide fluxes, and investigate soil inorganic carbon dynamics and alkalinity as an additional factor related to salt marsh carbon budgets. Moreover, field measurements of abiotic, vegetation and microbial parameters will be used to develop indicators for predicting carbon stocks, sequestration rates and greenhouse gas fluxes across remote regions.  

Combining field observations, laboratory experiments and modelling, C-SCALE aims to substantially reduce uncertainties in high-latitude salt marsh carbon budgets and improve estimates of their climate change mitigation potential.